Morticai’s Luck

The front cover to the upcoming book by Darlene Bolesny published by DarkStar Books! The original idea Tom Knowles, the publisher, had for this cover was to show a close-up of our hero Morticai, with the shadow of crossed swords on the wall behind him.  After the initial sketch stage, we decided to have the crossed swords cutting through the title text, so I drew back from the close-up on Morticai and reposed him so he could be defending against an attack.  Finally we tossed around ideas for a background in the color comp stage.  We had this one, inspired by a dungeon’s halls, and one which featured shadows on a wall prominently.